1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information distribution system, a terminal apparatus used in the same system, and a recording medium on which an information processing program is recorded so as to be computer readable, as well as to an information processing method, and relates in particular to an information distribution system which, being formed by a participation of a plurality of terminal apparatus mutually connected via a network, carries out a transmission and reception of contents information among the terminal apparatus, a terminal apparatus used in the same system, and a recording medium on which an information processing program is recorded so as to be computer readable, as well as to an information processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, along with a spread of a broadband, an information distribution service which distributes contents information such as music data, movie data and the like has become popular. For example, a service which distributes contents information in response to a request from a user, as with a VOD (Video On Demand), has been known.
With this kind of information distribution service, a distribution format according to a server client method has been mainstream, but recently, a P2P (Peer to Peer) type distribution format, which transmits and receives contents information among terminal apparatus, is attracting attention as a new distribution format replacing this method.
The P2P type information distribution system, being formed by a participation of a plurality of terminal apparatus (node apparatus) mutually connected via a network, acquires contents information which a user of a certain terminal apparatus is attempting to acquire from another terminal apparatus which holds one portion of, or all of, the contents.
For example, with an information distribution system described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-197400, it not being the case that each terminal apparatus is aware of location information (an IP address or the like) of all terminal apparatus participating in the information distribution system, it holds only location information of one portion of the terminal apparatus acquired at a time of participating or the like and, based on such location information, carries out a search for contents information, and carries out a transmission and reception of the contents information among the terminal apparatus.